There’s a poll on the Herald Sun website today asking if racism is alive in Australia. Please vote here.

Happy 2012! We’ve got some exciting projects and campaigns lined up for this year. If you’re keen to help us make them successful, please apply for one of our new volunteer roles:

• Chairperson of the Board
• Public Fund Management Committee Member (x3)
• Website Manager
• Interview Coordinator (internship)
• Interviewee (we only need 30 minutes of your time!)

The annual Mapping Social Cohesion report was released today.

The research shows a very slight drop in the number of people who say they have been a victim of racial abuse in the past 12 months, remaining at around 14% (that’s 1 in 7 people).

It also shows that 44% of people think the level of racial prejudice in Australia is higher now than it was five years ago. All the more reason why All Together Now’s work is needed!

Do you know someone who supports cultural diversity in the local community? Nominate them to be a People of Australia Ambassador:

As part of Australia’s new multicultural policy, the Prime Minister has announced the Australian Multicultural Council will appoint 40 People of Australia Ambassadors.

Ambassadors will champion inclusion and provide ‘grass roots’ input to the Australian Multicultural Council and to Government.

Like all not-for-profit organisations, we’re occasionally asked about how we put our mission into practice. Our mission states that:

We aim to eliminate racist behaviour in Australia through innovative, evidence-based and effective social marketing.

Specifically, people want to know about “social marketing”. We define social marketing as the application of commercial marketing principles, tools and technologies to achieve benefits for society.

“Racism online means that racism in classrooms, workplaces and communities moves from onto our screens into our pockets and handbags.”

— Outgoing Race Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, addressing the National Press Club yesterday. He said the number of complaints made to the Australian Human Rights Commission about online racism has doubled in the last couple of years.

A hot topic on our Facebook page over the past week has been “If we are not born racist how do Australians become racist?”. Some of the answers from our Facebook friends include:

* ignorance
* social conditioning
* fear of the unknown
* learning racism from older family members and others in the community
* the media
* Australian history
* politicians
* lack of leadership

Last updated: 26 July 2011

This Privacy Policy sets out how All Together Now uses your personal information.

All Together Now owns and operates the website www.alltogethernow.org.au.

This policy applies to the collection of all personal information by All Together Now whether on the All Together Now website, on other websites like Facebook, or through written or printed matter such as order forms.

All Together Now is bound by the National Privacy Principles contained in the Commonwealth Privacy Act.

Thanks to an in-kind donation from JCDecaux, this week we are Giving Racism The Finger in Melbourne with 60 huge posters. We’re inviting Melbournians to join the conversation about racism on our Facebook page.